Review Summary

“Brooklyn Rules,” the story of three buddies growing up in a mob-infested blue-collar neighborhood, makes you realize how high the bar has been set by “The Sopranos.” However authentic and heartfelt this film’s depiction of life on the meaner streets of the Northeast corridor may be, it doesn’t begin to match “The Sopranos’ ” epic vision of violence, class struggle and upward mobility in a barbarous culture. This small, sentimental “I remember” yarn, laced with vicious jolts, is a relocated “Bronx Tale” grounded in the same old macho shtick: friendship and undying loyalty among pals of dubious character who have shared harrowing rites of passage. As skillfully as “Brooklyn Rules” covers its familiar territory, it leaves you wishing for a long, hard look beyond the neighborhood and its atavistic rules. — Stephen Holden